Railroad car spotter



Aug. 2, 1960 J. P. VIDMAR 2,947,263

RAILROAD CAR SPOT'I'ER Filed Aug. 16, 1957 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 l i 'a I .1

INVENTOR, JOHN R V/DMAR 66mm wgLW ATTOQNEY.

' Aug. 2', 1960 Filed Aug. 16, 1957 .1, P, VIDMAR RAILROAD CAR SPOTTER 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTYOR. JOHN P V/DMAR 1 8 1960 I J. P. VIDMAR 2,947,263

RAILROAD CAR SPOTTER Filed Aug. 16, 1957 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 IN V EN TOR.

Jamv P. V/DMA R BY ATTO ZNEXS- United States Patent i :RAILROAD CAR srorrnn John P. Vidmar, Hibbing, Miun., assignor to The A. "Hanna Company, Cleveland, Ohio, a corporation of Ohio i g i Filed Aug. 16, 1957, Ser. No. 678,489

8 Claims. (Cl. 104-168) train of cars. However, such practice has serious dis advantages. The engineer in the switch engine is generally a substantial distance from the place where the cars must be stopped so that it is difficult for him accurately toistop the cars in the proper position. Furthermore, in order to use a switch engine for moving the cars, it is necessary to provide an intricate set of signals to the engineer to tell him exactly when to stop the train.

It is, therefore, the principal object of this. invention to'provide an apparatus located immediately adjacent to the place where a railway car is to be stopped which apparatus is capable of moving the car in both directions and stopping it accurately at a given spot.

.It is a further object of this invention to provide such an apparatus which is particularly adapted to handling heavy mine cars which are loaded with ore.

It is still a further object of the invention to provide 1 such an apparatus which is locatedsubstantially entirely above the ground in order that easy access may be had "ice way car 1 is illustrated on its tracks 2. This car may be either a standard car used on a railroad or may be a smaller gauge mine car. For the sake of simplicity in the drawings and description the apparatus of my invention on one side of the track only is described and illustrated in detail, it being understood that the apparatus on the other side of the track is identical. This apparatus for moving the railway cars comprises a frame member 3 rigidly mounted above the ground adjacent to the track by means of vertical I beams 4 which are imbedded'in suitable foundations. Supported on the frame member 3 by means of I beams 5 is a support member 6 which is illustrated as comprising a solid block but which may be constructed in any other convenient form such as a skeleton having cylindrical guide ways therein to receive the shafts which it supports.

A pair of sprockets 7 and 8 are mounted on the frame member rotatable on vertical axles and a chain 9-is connected over the sprockets 7 and 8 as best illustrated in Fig. 1. A metal plate 10 is connected to each link of chain as by means of a rivet which secures a boss on each plate 10 to the chain. A heavy rubber pad 13 is connected to the outside of each of the plates 10 by any suitable means such as rivets.

A. plurality of rods 14 are mounted in the support member 6 for lateral movement toward and away from the metal plates 14 A bracket 15 is mounted on the outer end of each of the rods 14 and carries therein an outwardly facing roller 16 which bears against the center of theinner surfaceof the plates '10. The rollers 16 are rotatable on vertical axles thus facilitating lateral movement of the plates 10 with respect to the brackets thereto for repairs and in order that it does, not become clogged with dirt and the like.

Other objectives and advantages of the present invention' will become apparent as the following description proceeds.

To the accomplishment of the V foregoing and related ends the invention then comprises the features hereinafter fully described and particularly pointed out in the claims,

the following description and the annexed drawings settingiforth in detail certain illustrative embodiments of theinvention, these being indicative, however, of but-a few ofthe various ways in which the principles of the invention may be employed.

In the annexed drawings: 7

:Fig. l is a top plan view of the apparatus of my invention illustrating two units of such apparatus one on each side of the track;

Fig. 2 is a side elevational view of the apparatus of Fig. 1; and

Fig. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the apparatus of Fig; '1 taken on the line 3-3. V

Broadly stated my invention comprises: apparatus for moving railway cars which comprises a driven member having an endless friction'surface around the periphery thereof, means for mounting said driven driven member along the side of a railway track with a portion of said friction surface positioned to contact the sides of railway cars on said track, and means for driving said driven member to movesaid friction surface around a vertical axis.

Referring now in detail to the annexed drawings a'rail- 15. A coil spring 17 is mounted on the rod 14 coaxial therewith resiliently forcing the bracket 15 away from the support member 6. The helical spring 17 therefore resiliently forces the rubber pads 13 against the sides of the railway car 1 thus permitting the pads to contact railway cars of difierent'widths.

It is desirable that the overall height of the apparatus be sufiicient so that the rubber pads 13 contact the railway car 1 very close to the bottom of the side walls of the car as illustrated most clearly in Fig. 2. This low overhead height of the apparatus is desirable for two reasons:

If the distance between the topof the belt and theground is reduced the forces tending to bend the support member 4 are reduced so that support members 4 do not have to be as strong or as firmly secured in the ground as they would have to be if the rubber pads 13 contacted the railway cars near the top of their side Walls.

Secondly, since most railway cars regardless of their design have a portion of their side wall disposed immediately above their wheels, this apparatus can be used on all dilferent types of cars. tacted the railway cars along the tops of their side walls, my invention could not be used to move low flat cars.

Because of the heavy weight of the chain 9 and the metal plate 10 it is desirable to provide some vertical support for the chain intermediate sprockets 7 and 8. For this reason an angle iron 18 is provided on the inside of the plates 10, as illustrated in Fig. 3, and has a downwardly projecting portion 19 which contacts a A plurality'of the rods 14 and brackets 15 are pro- Patented Aug. 2, 1960 If the rubber pads 13 con- 3, videdalong the length of" support member 6' so that the rubber pads 13 are forced against the side of the railway cars throughout any elongated area parallel to the railway tracks. Because this area is elongated and is of greater length than the distance between adjacent cars, this apparatus can be usedtomove an entire train,

on cars of ditferent widths: it is necessary to provide means'which will'supportthe opposite side of the chain and also vary in distance from the support member. 6:

Thus when a wide car is moved through this apparatus thereby shortening the length of the chain between sproekets- 7 and 8' on the side of the support member 6 adjacent to the railway car it is necessary to have supportingmeans which will takeup the slack in they chain on the other side of the support member 6. If such supporting means were not provided, the chain would disengage from all the sprockets 7 and 8 or would sag so that it. would jam the sprockets 7 and 8 as it entered them.

The; slack in the chain 9 on the side of support memben6' remote from the railwaycars' istaken up by means of: rods 21' mounted in the support member 6 and carrying brackets 22 on the outer endsthereof. The brackets 22 areidentical to the brackets 15 but facing in the op: posite direction. Springs 23 are provided on the rods 21 between the member 6 and the bracket 22 resiliently urging the bracket'22 toward the adjacentplates 10. The spring 23 is not as strong as the spring 17; therefore, the spring: 17 is effective to force the chain 9, and its plates: 11) and rubber pads 13 toward the railway: car, but the springs 23 are effective to keep the chain 95131112.

Thesprockets 7 and 8 are supported above the frame 3 on vertical axles 24 and 25 respectively. The axles 24-- and 25' lead into gear reduction housings 26 and 27 respectively through which they are connectedto miles 28 and 29 respectively. By means of the gear reduction housings 26' and 27, axles 24 and 25' are driven at a slower rate ofrotation than the axles 28 and 29-. The

axle 28 is driven by an electric motor 30, and the axle" 29. is driven by an electric motor 31. A fluid coupling 32' and: a clutch 33 is provided in each of the axles 28 and129, and a brake 34 of any suitable type is provided on each of the axles 28 and 29, the brake being located closer to the gear reduction boxes than the fluid couplings 32.

It is to be understood that the apparatus described above comprises half of the apparatus which would normally be used at a given location, one-half being provided on each side of the railroad track. A motor would be provided to drive each of the sprockets 7 and 8, and the motors connected to similar sprockets would be connectedto the same switch so that the two halves of the apparatus would operate concurrently. The motors and gears in the gear housings 26 and 27 are arranged so that the motors drive the sprockets 7 and 8 in the directions indicated by the arrows thereon. Each of the sprockets, therefore, tends to pull the portion of the chain and rubber pad which are adjacent the railway car. Care must be taken that the sprockets when driven by their motors do not push the chain toward the cars since this would result in collapsing of the chain in the area between the sprockets and the brackets 15 and probably damage the brackets 15 when several links of the chains try to pass therethrough at the same time.

It will be noted that by the use of my apparatus a worker located immediately adjacent to the spot where cars are to be stopped for loading or unloading can very accurately move each car of an entire train of cars to that spot. All of the apparatus for this equipment is located above the ground and to the side of the railway track so that foreign matter that usually accumulates on the ground adjacent to a hopper does not become lodged in the apparatus and hinder its operation.

Other modes of applying the principle of the invention may be employedfchange being made as regards the details described, provided the features stated in anyaround said sprockets, a plurality of metal plates mounted on the. outside of said chain, resilient pads on the outside of said plates, 21 support member mounted inside the endless path of said chain, a rod mounted in said, support member for lateral movement toward and away from the metal plates on the portion ofsaid chain adjacent to the track, a bracket member carried on the free end, of said rod, a roller mounted, on said bracket for rotation about a vertical axis, said roller positioned to contact said plates, a downwardly projecting portion fromsaid plates, 21 second roller carried by said'bracket' and positioned to contact said projecting portion, andmeans for rotating said sprockets.

2. Apparatus for moving railway cars which comprises a pair of motion imparting unitsmounted opposite each other, one on either side of a railway track, each unitcomprising a frame member mounted along the side of the railway tracks, a pair of sprockets mounted on said frame member for rotation in a substantially horizontal plane and at a height above said tracks opposite the sides of railway cars on said tracks, an endless chain connected around said sprockets, a plurality ofmetal plates mounted on the outside of said chain, resilient pads on the outside of said plates, a support member mounted inside theendless path of said chain, a pair of rods mounted in said support member movable 'toward and away from said track, said rods extending from opposite sides, of said support member, a bracket carried on the free end of each of said rods, a roller carried by each of said brackets positioned to bear against the inner side of the metal plates on said chain, a downwardly projecting portion from said plates, a second roller carried by each of said brackets positioned to, contact said projecting portion, a helical spring on each of said rods coaxial therewith resiliently forcing said brackets away from said support member, the spring on the rod adjacent to said track being stronger than the spring on the rod remote from the track, and means for: rotating said sprockets.

3. Apparatus for accurately spotting railway cars which comprises a pair of motion imparting; units mounted opposite each other one on either side of a railway track, each unit comprising a frame member mounted along the side of the railway track, a pair of sprockets mounted on said frame member for rotation in substantially a horizontal plane at a height above said tracks opposite the sides of railway cars on said tracks, an endless chain connected around said sprockets, a plurality of metal plates mounted on the outside of said chain, said plates provided with an inwardly and then downwardly extending portion thereof, resilient pads on the outside of said plates, a support member mounted inside the endless path of said chain, a pair of rods mounted in said support member movable toward and away from said track, said rods extending from opposite sides of said support member, a bracket carried on the free end of each of said rods, a roller carried by each of said brackets positioned to bear against the inner side of the metal plates on said chain, a second roller carried by each of said brackets positioned to contact a downwardly facing surface on said portion of said plates, a third roller carried by each of said brackets positioned to contact the surface of said downwardly extending portion of said plates remote from said support member, a helical spring on each of said rods coaxial therewith resiliently forcing said brackets away from said support member, the spring on the rod adjacent to said track being stronger than the spring on the rod remote from the track, a motor for driving each of said sprockets, said motor being connected to the sprocket through a clutch, a fluid coupling and a set of reduction gears by means of an axle, and a brake for retarding rotation of said axle.

4. Apparatus for accurately spotting railway cars which comprises a frame member, a pair of sprockets mounted on said frame member for rotation substantially in a horizontal plane, an endless chain connected around said sprockets, a plurality of metal plates mounted on the outside of saidchain, said plates provided with an inwardly and then downwardly extending portion, a support member mounted inside the endless path of said chain, a pair of rods mounted in said support member movable toward and away from said track, said rods extending from opposite sides of said support member, a bracket carried on the free end of each of said rods, a roller carried by each of said brackets positioned to bear against the inner side of the metal plates on said chain, a second roller carried by each of said brackets positioned to contact a downwardly facing surface on said portion of said plates, a third roller carried by each of said brackets positioned to contact the surface of said downwardly extending portion of said plates remote from said support member, a helical spring on each of said rods coaxial therewith resiliently forcing said brackets away from said support member, the spring on the rod adjacent to said track being stronger than the spring on the rod remote from the track, and means for moving the endless chain around said sprockets.

5. Apparatus for moving a railway car and the like including a support member, an endless member encircling the support member and having an outwardly disposed surface adapted frictionally to engage such car, said endless member having opposed lengths thereof stationed on opposite sides of the support member, means to support the endless member with respect to the support member comprising rod members extending from such opposite sides of the support member and adapted to carry said endless member, said rod members being adapted for movement toward and away from the support member, means resiliently to urge the rod members outwardly to permit bodily transversal movement of one length of, the endless member relatively to the support member and a compensatory simultaneous bodily transversal movement of the other of said lengths thereby to prevent the formation of slack in the endless member, and means to move the endless member in the direction of its length.

, said drive member having an outwardly disposed surface adapted frictionally to engage such car and thereby eiiect movement of the car, means to support the endless drive member with respect to the support member comprising rod members projecting from said opposite sides of the support member and adapted for movement toward and away from said support member, said rod members terminating in brackets, said endless drive member carrying plate members along its inwardly disposed surface, said brackets and plate members having mating portions to support the endless drive member and simultaneously permit relative movement between the brackets and plate members, a spring coacting with each rod member to urge the rod member away from the support member and permit concurrent transversal movement of both of said lengths of the endless drive member and in the same direction relative to the support member to maintain said lengths of the endless drive member in a taut condition while being so moved, and means to move the endless drive member in the direction of its length.

7. Apparatus as defined in claim 6 wherein said springs coacting with the rod members of the support member which are disposed toward a car are stronger'than those springs coacting with the members disposed away from a car, whereby the length of the endless drive member engaged by the herein first-mentioned rod members is adjustably positioned with respect to the support member by the width of the car so engaged, and the herein lastmentioned rod members serve to maintain the endless drive member in a taut condition.

8. Apparatus for moving a railway car and the like including a support member, an endless member adapted for movement in the direction of its length encircling the support member and having an outwardly disposed surface for frictional engagement with such car, said endless member having opposed lengths thereof stationed on opposite sides of the support member, support means for both of said opposed lengths carried by the support member for supporting engagement with said lengths, and resilient means cooperating with said support means to urge the latter outwardly and permit bodily transversal movement of one length of the endless member relatively to the support member and a compensatory simultaneous bodily transversal movement of the other of said lengths thereby to prevent formation of slack in the endless member.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,321,463 Lloyd Nov. 11, 1919 1,396,627 Denham Nov. 8, 1921 2,038,732 Guthrie Apr. 28, 1936 2,575,914 Griflin et a1. Nov. 20, 1951 2,642,280 Fisk June 16, 1953 2,715,369 Doehler Aug. 16, 1955 

